Everyday

Everyday, Lord, I'll

Learn to stand upon Your word

And I pray that I

That I might come to know You more

That You would guide me with every single step I take, that

Everyday I can

Be Your light unto the world



Everyday, it's You I live for

Everyday, I'll follow after You

Everyday, I'll walk with You, my Lord



--Hillsong United; 'Everyday'

I shall miss YC this year (www.ycnewfoundland.org) Pretty much, everything...the kids, the late-night parties, just the worship & fellowship. I know we can worship God everyday and anywhere, I guess it's just those mountain-top experiences that you revel in and want to soak in forever. But I am here and will do my best to worship everyday not just when I am in the midst of thousands worshipping but when I am alone in the quiet of my flat.

Gaining Ground

"O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed." -A.W. Tozer

I may want to have a closer relationship with God and be a man after God's own heart, but honestly if I look within, I often lack the passion & excitement that is a prerequisite. So perhaps instead I should pray that I might have the passion of Christ and see the world through Christ's eyes, to pray as I have often read that the things that break God's heart might break mine as well.

What If?

I was reading recently that a state lawmaker in Nebraska has filed a lawsuit against God. The following is an excerpt from that article:

The suit asks the court for a "permanent injunction ordering defendant (God) to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terrorist threats" which affect innumerable persons, including Chambers' constituents.

It asserts that God is "the admitted perpetrator" of such acts and said that God's omnipresence gives the local Douglas County District Court jurisdiction in the suit, adding that God's omniscience eliminates the need to issue a formal notice of the lawsuit.

I’m sure a lot of us including myself have wanted to put God on the witness stand and ask what in the world is going on and demand answers to our questions, but like Job when our time does come we will quickly realize how little WE know:

"God then confronted Job directly: "Now what do you have to say for yourself?
Are you going to haul me, the Mighty One, into court and press charges?"

Job answered:
"I'm speechless, in awe—words fail me.
I should never have opened my mouth!
I've talked too much, way too much.
I'm ready to shut up and listen."

God addressed Job next from the eye of the storm, and this is what he said:
"I have some more questions for you,
and I want straight answers. "Do you presume to tell me what I'm doing wrong? Are you calling me a sinner so you can be a saint?

Do you have an arm like my arm? Can you shout in thunder the way I can?
Go ahead, show your stuff. Let's see what you're made of, what you can do.
Unleash your outrage.
Target the arrogant and lay them flat.
Target the arrogant and bring them to their knees.
Stop the wicked in their tracks—make mincemeat of them!
Dig a mass grave and dump them in it— faceless corpses in an unmarked grave.
I'll gladly step aside and hand things over to you— you can surely save yourself with no help from me!"

--Job 40:1-14 (The Message)

No doubt much of our bravado we strut around with will crumble in the presence of God Almighty…If only we’d realize this beforehand, what nobler, humbler lives we’d live!

Common Cold for the Soul

To sinful patterns of behavior that never get confronted and changed,
Abilities and gifts that never get cultivated and deployed –
Until weeks become months
And months become years,
And one day you’re looking back on a life of
Deep intimate gut-wrenchingly honest conversations you never had;
Great bold prayers you never prayed,
Exhilarating risks you never took,
Sacrificial gifts you never offered
Lives you never touched,
And you’re sitting in a recliner with a shriveled soul,
And forgotten dreams,
And you realize there was a world of desperate need,
And a great God calling you to be part of something bigger
Than yourself-
Your see the person you have become but did not;
You never followed your calling.
You never got out of the boat.

To live a life unfulfilled is perhaps my greatest fear – to stand before my Maker and see what might have been had I forgotten about myself and turned my eyes on Him.
And of course, my realization of this only makes me more aware of my shortcomings.
The question is, what do I do about it? I could try to make every effort humanly possible to live each and every day with purposeful & passionate intent, but I have made those resolutions before, only to see them dissipate in a few days. I know my heart is right and that my soul craves to be led by Almighty Christ, therefore I must relinquish all the holds me back from experiencing the Holy and powerful Spirit of God which will transform me into a new creation – one that lives with a God-given purpose. That is my deepest and most sincere prayer. An honest assessment of where I am but more importantly where I want to be. I am believing that NOW is the time and that He is calling me into a deeper & more personal relationship with Him. I just need to take that step of faith when the opportunity presents itself.

Having a crap day?

There was group on Facebook called the “6 Resolutions of William Booth”. I remember reading it in an autobiography so I’m fairly confident that it is accurate.
The thing I like about it is its honesty…Above all things I believe God values an honest assessment of our own heart and spiritual condition. Why pretend to be this great spiritual giant when you struggle and are having a rough go of it? David cried out in the Psalms numerous times, pouring out his heart to a sometimes “distant” God. When I am struggling, I want to just admit it and not put on the “everything’s okay” façade. If it seems like everything is turned upside down and hopeless, tell Him…if it seems like everything is the best it could be…tell Him that too. I’m sure He’d appreciate the honesty.

"SIX RESOLUTIONS" by William Booth (age 20)

1. That I will rise every morning sufficiently early to wash, dress, and have a few minutes, not less than 5, in private prayer.

2. That I will, as much as possible, avoid all that babbling and idle talk in which I have lately so sinfully indulged.

3. That I will endeavor in my conduct and deportment before the world and my fellow servants especially to conduct myself as a humble, meek and zealous follower of Christ, and by serious conversation and warning endeavor to lead them to think of their immortal souls.

4. That I will read no less than four chapters in God’s Word every day.

5. That I will strive to live closer to God, and to seek after holiness of heart and leave providential events with God.

6. That I will read over this every day or at least twice a week.

“God help me, enable me to cultivate a spirit of self-denial and to yield myself a prisoner of love to the redeemer of the world.”

“I feel my own weakness, and without God’s help I shall not keep these resolutions. The Lord have mercy upon my guilty soul.”

Follow Me...

If you want to follow me you must leave yourself behind;
There's no room for selfish plans of the purely human kind.
Your ambitions have to go, my ambitions take their place;
I have other plans for you to embrace!

If you want to follow me you must let me change your mind;
Put my thoughts into your thoughts, show you all I have designed.
And your values will be changed; ugly things with beauty shine,
For the eyes through which you see shall be mine!

If you want to follows me, crosses you will have to bear;
Willingly, without complaint, face the darkness of despair.
What you give you'll always keep, what you try to save you'll lose.
Do you want to follow me? You can choose!

Mögen sich die Zeiten ändern der Auftrag bleibt!

"God has His times and His purposes, and to miss His times is to miss His purposes."

I am doing a 1-year work term in Germany with The Salvation Army. After much prayer and consideration, I believe it was where God was leading me to go. It wasn't the easiest choice and certainly wasn't the path of least resistance and I guess at the end of the day that's what made my decision for me...I had to take a step of faith into the unknown; jump, believing that God had me secured on the other end.

So here I am, one week in and going where God leads. A time of renewal and restoration, what the future holds...who knows? But He who began the good work in me is faithful and true to complete it until He takes me home.

In His presence, in His presence

Let me linger, let me stay.

There is healing in His presence

Every moment of the day.

For I have found such peace & rest,

And strength I need for every test.

In His presence, in His presence,

Let me linger, let me stay.